Cyberpunk, Spirituality and Technology - The Voidspace Blogspot

The strange and deluded ramblings of a rather odd person.

Please Fasten Your Seatbelts

And Loosen Your Clothing

These pages are all my own work. Unfortunately that may be a terrible admission. In these pages are various writings of mine, from the first part of my life story, to poems, to mad ramblings without excuse. Below the links to the articles is my blog. Not to be confused with the Techie Blog, this is random ramblings from life.

Rambling Rumination

Diving or Drowning Part I. The first part of my Autohagiography... up to the point where I first take ecstacy. The tale of how a polite, well mannered middle-class child became such a ruffian.....

HumanOS v1.3. Subtitled baby crocodiles, computers and the human personality. This is an article that compares the human mind to a computer operating system. It touches on artifical intelligence and the ages old Nature versus Nurture debate.

Christian Meditation. A short piece on Christian meditation - exploring living Spirituality with God.

Imagine Paradise. No its not about a large network of computers, its actually about Christian Community..... and why we bother.

The first is an article on the spiritual power of symbols and sacraments. The second one, is on what sort of truth we can expect to find in the bible - with a brief section providing one possible reconciliation between modern science and Genesis. They should both be understandable by 'beginners' to the subjects.

Quick 'n' Dirty HTML. Need to get a webpage up quick and never done any HTML before ? This article will get you up to speed with the basics, using a TABLE for layout. Not for those who want nice, standards compliant, XHTML and CSS...

Voidspace Story. My cyberpunk short story. Lovely imagery but very short *sigh*. Come and play in the Void !

Beginners Guide to Atlantis. My beginners guide for new players of Atlantis - the computer 'Play-by-eMail' game. Very useful if you`ve just started to play.

UK Population and Migration Statistics

One of the things I do at the Jesus Centre is to arrange our annual snapshot survey. We've done two now, for one week asking all of our visitors to answer a few simple questions about their age, background and which services they use.

One of the aims of the snapshot survey is to see how effective the Jesus Centre is at reaching the ethnic minority [1] population in Northampton.

The figures from 2006 were very encouraging. The numbers visiting the Jesus Centre were roughly the same as last year, this was despite us deciding that services in the 'Step Up' [2] were over-stretched and that we would actually be able to help people more if we had fewer visitors. Particularly encouraging was a more than 100% increase in the number of people using our other [3] services and activities, which was nice for me as organising the groups we run is one of my responsibilities.

Over the last few years, the UK has seen a great deal of immigration: both asylum seekers from very difficult backgrounds and economic migrants from the new EU countries. Since the last round of EU expansion (from Poland in particular) a large number of new people have arrived. This has caused something of a stir (as if our generation was the first to see wide-spread immigration), but in fact a large number of people are also migrating out of Britain each year.

At the Jesus Centre we want to know if the number of non-UK visitors we have is representative of the population in Northampton. Unfortunately, the only data we could find were the 2001 Census figures. A large proportion of the population changes have occurred since the census, so I started looking for more up to date figures.

Uhm... except I couldn't find any. I did find a Northamptonshire local authorities 2005 Study of Black and Minority Ethnic Housing Support Needs (PDF). It uses the 2001 census figures (although it does provide interesting information about the Northampton Gypsy and traveller community - around one third of all traveller caravans in the East Midlands are in Northamptonshire).

So as far as I can tell, after several years of controversial immigration, the most up to date central information about the UK population dates back to 2001...

This involves case studies of bringing in data from a range of sources, carried out in several cities in the UK. Data sources include:

Ports

Requests for National Insurance numbers

Schools

The health service

The benefits system

Universities

and so on...

So, if IMPS is put into general practise, then we might have better information some time; but for the moment the best we can do is use the 2001 information. Luckily that shows that we are fantastic at reaching the non-UK population of Northampton - but comparing with some real data would be useful.

Breaking Language Barriers

In the last ten or fifteen years Britain has seen a great deal of inwards migration. Of course this is not the first time, even in recent history, but every generation thinks that they are the first...

The pattern of immigration has been changing though. Even five years ago there were a huge number of asylum seekers from oppressed and war torn countries: Iraq, Iran and Somalia [1] for example. Currently we are seeing a great deal of economic migrants from Eastern Europe, particularly from the new EU countries like Poland. I can't imagine why (of all places) Polish workers would want to come to Northampton, but very welcome they are.

Delia helps teach English as a second language, as part of the 'New to UK' scheme run by the Jesus Centre. She has just been employed part time by them, to help launch a new initiate seeing how we can best serve the new communities in Northampton.

There are 7 million people in the UK whose first language is not English.

EAL (English as an Additional Language) is YAA (Yet Another Acronym) adopted by 'A Fresh Start' when referring to teaching English to learners under the age of 16. The term used for post-16 education is ESOL.

Potential ESOL learners fall into 4 broad categories:

Settled communities (esp. Chinese); these groups can be difficult to reach, mainly due to irregular working timetables;

Being a Teaching Assistant in the UK

Delia is from Romania. She did an English and Romanian Literature degree and speaks better English than most natives I know.

Despite this it is slightly ironic that she is now teaching ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) to newly arrived asylum seekers, refugees, immigrants and economic migrants. This is part of our basic skills program at the Jesus Centre.

In recent years our blessed government has made two changes to the teaching of basic skills in the UK. First it has committed to increasing the provision of basic skills (to adults) in the UK. Secondly it has dramatically increased the qualifications required by basic skills tutors and their assistants, to the point where by 2010 the majority of those who are teaching now won't be qualified for the job.

Delia has just started a new course by the Northamptonshire Learning Partnership. This will qualify her to be a teaching assistant and is a step along the way to be a qualified teacher.

She has completed the first part of the course, an introduction to teaching basic skills (like literacy, numeracy and ESOL) to adult learners. In January she starts the second part which is specialised for teaching ESOL.

Some of the course has been very useful, especially the parts on lesson planning. Other parts seem more concerned with an ability to write essays with the maximum possible density of current teaching jargon and minimum possible relevance to the realities of the classroom.

I thought it might be useful to someone if I published here some of the coursework she has had to do (some of which was new to me).

Gerunds

A noun that is formed by adding -ing to a verb is called a gerund. Almost any verb can be made into a gerund [pronounced jare-und].

Cook vs. Cooking, Walk vs. Walking.

Cooking is fun. Walking is good exercise.

Since both present participles and gerunds are formed from adding "ing" to a verb, we must look at where the verb comes in the sentence to determine its form.

Swinging makes me dizzy.

She went through the swinging door.

Gerunds, like verbs, can take both direct objects or subject complements.

Watching people is fascinating.

Being silly is a good way to get people to laugh. [silly is the subject complement to the linking verb being].

Phrases formed by gerunds and their related words are called gerund phrases.

Seeing this movie changed my life.

As a gerund takes the place of a noun, it can be found wherever a noun might be found in a sentence.

A Case Study: An Induction Course

This essay is a case study in teaching an induction course for a company. The company hasn't run the induction course for a long time and the teacher has only just been notified she will be delivering it. Some of the attendees are new to the company and some have already been working there for a few weeks. The task is to identify and overcome the barriers in delivering the course.

Part I

One of the challenges that I would identify when preparing my delivery for this group of learners is the fact that I have been given a rather short notice. Despite the fact that that training programme is already documented, I would still need to adjust it to my own teaching style and to the group I am going to teach. Most certainly, the already-existing training materials are designed for a homogeneous group of learners, on the assumption they are all new to the organisation. In order to overcome this initial challenge I will have to alter various parts of the training programme to suit a group of learners that is rather heterogeneous: 4 members are new to the company, having started this week; other 4 members have been working for the company for 5 weeks; the last 4 have been working for it for 10 weeks. For a start, would involve the learners in the course planning from the first session, for instance, by using a questionnaire to find out which topics are of most interest and which topics have already been covered (e.g. the employees who have been working for the company for 10 weeks already know where the facilities are in the building). I will have to find out what most of the learners have in common n terms of goal, motivation or needs, so I can set an aim and objectives for my scheme of work.

One drawback of the fact that the course hasn't been undertaken for over 6 months is that the information it contains might be, in places, not valid any longer. For example, the number of staff might have increased/decreased, the policies of the company might have changed, or the health and safety rules might have become stricter. As their tutor, I will make sure I provide my students with the most up-to-date information about their company.

A third challenge brought up by this particular group of learners is finding a way to motivate them to attend the course. To the employees who have been working for the company for 5 weeks or more, attending an induction course seems pointless as they already know the about the structure of the company and its regulations. The 4 members who have started this week will be, probably, the only ones genuinely interested in the course, since it will introduce them to the nomenclature of the organisation, the facilities and the rights and responsibilities that they have as members. I am assuming my learners work for different departments of the company (e.g. accounts, security etc), therefore I can outline, at the beginning of the course, that one of the aims is to get people to know each other and other departments and to see a larger picture of their work place. The learners will be given their own information pack with contact names and numbers, who to go to for complaints, career advice, access to resources and bonuses.

Part II

The manager decided to organise the induction at a very short notice. Some of the learners might not be able to attend (e.g. they might be on their annual leave). Also, the induction has been scheduled for 3 days consecutively, which means it is an intensive course that will require a lot of effort and time on the learners' part. They will have to re-organise their evening times (e.g. instead of spending time with their family doing their domestic duties, they will have to take time to read through the coursework and complete their assignments). This might affect their close relationships, even create family tensions.

Most people will have already a transport routine- they have already found the bus/train timetable that suits them. Having a course starting later, at 9.30am, might cause them difficulties in finding the right means of transport.

Some employees could only be working part-time, for example single mothers that have to leave work early to pick up children from school; they won't be able to stay on the course until 4.30pm. Also, they might not be able to arrive at 9.30 as they have to drop children at school first.

Other employees could be working for the company 2 days a week only. Since during the rest of the week they are employed somewhere else, they won't be able to attend all the 3 sessions of the course. They haven't been told about the induction early enough to arrange time off with the other employer.

Considering all learners are adult learners with responsibilities outside work, I would not give them heavy coursework to do at home. I might give out short questionnaires/surveys they can answer at home and hand in next day, or complete at the end of each session. Taking into account the fact that some trainees are part-time workers, I would have printed handouts for every section of my discussion and would make sure they get to the learners that have not been able to attend all sessions.

In order to motivate these employees to attend the induction, the company could allow them to have the rest of the week off. Everybody would definitely appreciate 2 days off to plan the rest the week and even to arrange with someone else to help with their childcare.

The best way to motivate learners is to run a very interesting course in terms of both method of presentation and information provided. The contents of the course should be challenging enough to keep the 'veteran' employees interested, but not too difficult so the newest employees feel inferior and lose interest.

Part III

Some people in the group might already know one another but, more than certainly, there will be quite a few of them who do not know anyone else. To warm up the atmosphere, I thought of 2 icebreakers. The first one consists of splitting the group in pairs, giving people numbers from 1 to 6, each number setting off to seek for its pair. They have up to 10 minutes to share with each other their names, length of employment, department, family, interests etc, after which period they all come back together and share with the rest of the group at least 5 things about their partner. This icebreaker helps people not only to get to know someone else in their group, but also to feel on a more personal level of relationship with the others by sharing with them about someone else they have just met. They can feel they are beginning to develop relationships of trust with one another and feel more comfortable and relaxed- which is essential in a learning atmosphere.

The second icebreaker follows on the same line as the first one but on a whole group level. On a large inflatable beach ball I write, with a fine permanent market, as many questions as I can possibly fit in. The learners sit in a circle and the ball gets thrown around. The person who catches it has to answer the question touching their left thumb, then they say their name and throw the ball to someone else. Examples of questions:

What is your favourite movie line?

If you were invisible, where would you go?

How many jokes do you know by heart? Tell us your favourite.

The list of questions can be a lot longer. This icebreakers would probably be inappropriate without the first activity mentioned earlier (when the group split in pairs) because some questions require well-thought, long answers, and most people wouldn't feel ready to talk about themselves yet.

At the end of these 'warm-up' activities the learners would feel they know at least one person well enough to start a conversation (the one they met during the first icebreaker) and they would feel they've had a chance to talk about themselves as well. The learning environment would be relaxed.

Part IV

My learners will have different levels of knowledge of and interest in the induction course, so I would generally avoid having them all sat around tables, assuming they would choose to sit with the ones that are on their level. For the icebreakers I would have the chairs arranged in a circle, so that everyone feels included and a part of the team. Before the sessions I would set up a drinks' table inside the training room and making use of the coffee machine outside the door. Prior to each session we will have hot drinks and time to talk to one another. There will also be 2 tea breaks during the day, and we will be using the drinks' table and the coffee machine again.

For the activities that require writing, I would set up tables, but encourage the learners to sit with someone else every time so that they can get to know and work with as many colleagues as possible.

The laptop computer and the power point projector are very versatile: with a bit of imagination you can create very interesting effects on your lesson displays that can look really attractive. Even to the employees who have been working for the company for almost 2 months and think they know everything about it, a power point presentation can reveal a whole new perspective on the work-related topics. The laptop computer stores information regarding all the 3 sessions so I can always go back to what I taught the previous day and show it to the members of the group that were absent that day.

The Jesus Fellowship has had an 'interesting' history with the Chron. In the past they have been antagonistic. Hopefully, as well as marking two difficult but successful years for the Jesus Centre, this article heralds a better relationship with the newspaper.

TWO years ago the Jesus Fellowship Church finally finished converting an Art Deco cinema and opened the Jesus Centre in Northampton's Abington Square.

Visitors to the Jesus Centre

The Jesus Centre aims to be used by all sections of the community. Here are the views of some of the people who already use the facilities:

Jill Beattie, 56, works as a volunteer in the Circle Cafe. She used to live in one of the Jesus Army community houses but now has her own flat in Abington.

"I came to Northampton about three and half years ago and my teenage daughter had joined the Jesus Army the year before", she said.

"She saw a programme about them on TV and became interested and I decided to come and see what it was like for myself.

I think the Jesus Centres play a very important role because they've helped a lot of people change their lives.

A lot of people think that the centre is only for the Jesus Army, which is totally not true. People can come in and have a coffee, meet people, or pray, and it's very friendly."

Darren James, 36, is an ex-offender who is currently sleeping rough in Northampton. After serving six months in prison for drug-related crime he is now on a community rehabilitation order and visits the centre's Step-up Scheme every day.

"They provide a lot for you," he said. "I come here to have a shower and do the Bible study class and they give you a bit of food to take away with you.

There's a good atmosphere and I know I can come here and relax without having to look over my shoulder.

They are willing to help you to help yourself and no-one judges you or looks down on you because of your situation, or thinks you are useless because you sleep rough.

I'm not on drugs now and this really helps keep your mind occupied. If the centre wasn't here we would just be walking the streets."

Mother and daughter Stella Watts, 77, and Jane Emerton, 50, often pop into the cafe for lunch on their way through town.
Mrs Emerton said that, although they were Christians, they only came in to enjoy relaxing in the cafe.

"A friend of mine told us it was great, and we have been coming in since it opened", she said.

"People think that you are going to get preached at but you don't get any sort of 'sales pitch'!

We find it very clean, informal and pleasant and the food is good.

Once you've been coming a while you build up a relationship with the staff and they remember you, which is nice.

In the past the Jesus Army has had a bad name and they've had to work hard to change that stigma but we really enjoy it here."

Emma Horner, 18, is part of a young people's group that meets at the centre's Step-up Scheme.

"I started coming here to meet new people and now it is a good place to hang out and have a laugh", she said.

"I've made friends through it and I go to the Heart church they do on Sunday and Step-up on Wednesday night.

"There's a good atmosphere; everyone is on the same level. If this wasn't here I would just be wandering around town."

The church, famous for its brightly-coloured buses and Jesus Army evangelism, was started in Bugbrooke in 1969 by pastor Noel Stanton and has always suffered something of an image problem. In recent years the church has found acceptance with churches both locally and nationally and even with the government. Some representatives were recently invited to an award ceremony at the Houses of Parliament.

With around 600 of some 2,500 church members living in community houses around the UK, they have attracted criticism for their modus operandi of establishing common purses and a central Trust Fund, through which community members sell their possessions and share their wealth. But they've also spent more than 30 years working to help people with backgrounds of addiction, poverty and homelessness, as well as holding regular worship events which attract thousands of people.

By converting the 1936 Grade II listed former Savoy cinema, the Jesus Army has created a huge public profile for itself in Northampton and, as the centre approaches its second anniversary, the managers told the Chron how they?re fighting to alter their public image and reach out to even more sectors of the community.

Manager Steve Jones said they wanted to stress that the Jesus Centre, which is financially supported by the Jesus Army Charitable Trust and costs an estimated £400,000 to run each year, was not meant to be just for the use of the Jesus Army.

"We've always said it, but we really do want to offer something for all sections of the community, and I think that's something that has grown over the last two years", he said.

"A typical thing for me is to meet very different sorts of people who I wouldn't otherwise come into contact with.

We have people who come here for working lunches, or for our businessman's breakfast, or community groups who meet in the cafe; and at the same time there's people from the streets coming in to our Step-up Scheme, where they can get a free cup of coffee or tea, have a shower or just sit and talk.

We have creative groups, learning groups and multi-cultural events, because about 30 per cent of our visitors are not from the UK, which we want to encourage."

The charitable trust receives donations and there are currently about 150 people volunteering their time to help run the centre's activities and outlets. Mr Jones said there had been misunderstanding about the way the church is run and said he hoped people would make their own minds up.

"Things like our community houses and common purses have been a bit of a problem in terms of the way we are perceived, and perhaps always will be, but all we can do is welcome people and try to be as open as possible", he said.

"We are faith-based but you don't have to be Christian to come to the centre.

Our volunteers work here because they want to do it; they have a great desire to do something practical and to serve, and they do an amazing job.

Their motives are pure and it's a real blessing to me to see them finding their role."

There are currently about 40 or 50 groups using the centre, and community liaison worker Paul Veitch is actively trying to get more groups to make the most of the building. He said a key part of their ethos was to try to serve people.

"As Christians we want to love and serve the people of Northampton in any way we can; no matter what the persons faith (or lack of it), background, race, class, age, sexuality, disability or ability. Every person will be valued at the Jesus Centre. Some visitors make enquiries about the Christian faith and come to our "Heart" church service on a Sunday night. Many others are just happy to receive the services we have available including Skills classes, Creative Groups, the Circle Cafe and much else. We want the Jesus Centre to be of real benefit to the people of the town."

The team said many people had taken enthusiastically to the centre and were actively involved in putting on events such as art exhibitions, live music, and themed evenings

Service development worker Michael Foord said part of his role was to work with other local groups, and he had been surprised by the positive response.

"What surprised me was how much support we got from other groups in the area", he said.

"A lot of groups, like CAN and the Doddridge centre, are all trying to achieve the same thing, just in slightly different ways.

There has been quite a lot of history with the Jesus Army in Northampton but I think that we are changing people's views as they find out more what we actually do.

We don't just work with the most disadvantaged groups; we have an enormous range of groups from all kinds of backgrounds.

We have Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs coming here to learn English, and our cultural nights are some of the best things we have done."

Mr Foord said his own wife, who is Romanian, had started off helping out with a class teaching English.

"She is now doing a college course and working towards becoming a teacher of those classes herself", he said.

"She found a lot of confidence doing something she wouldn't even have considered getting involved in before.

"Getting people to cross over the threshold is a battle, but over the last year people have come in and they see that we're alright really!

"The building is a very good part of helping our public profile because it makes our work very visible and public."

Mr Jones said one of the biggest challenges in establishing the centre had been expressing their message to a broad cross-section of people.

"We want to show that God?s love is real and practical, and to break down any preconceived ideas that are a barrier to that", he said.

"There is a lot of potential here and we want to use it to the max.

We are trying to use all of the spaces because it is such a great building. In the evenings the vestibule becomes a bit like a lounge for a friendship event for people passing by, and it's that kind of atmosphere that we want.

The centre has been a groundbreaking thing for us, as well as for the town and I think that, slowly and surely, our message is getting across."

On Saturday December 2 the Jesus Centre is holding an Open Day from 10am until 4pm to celebrate their second anniversary.
The free event, which has the theme "It's For You", will include live drumming, music and artwork, and taster sessions for some of the groups.

Anyone who would like to be e-mailed the Jesus Centre newsletter, or is interested in holding a group event there, should contact Paul Veitch, either by e-mail on paul.veitch@northamptonjesuscentre.org.uk, or on 07999 327384.

Jesus Centre Open Day

On Saturday December 2nd the Northampton Jesus Centre has an Open Day. Working at the Jesus Centre is my 'other job'. For four days a week I work for Resolver as a programmer. For one day a week I do community liaison and service development for the Northampton Jesus Centre. It is completely different from anything else I have done before, but the Jesus Centre genuinely serves the people of Northampton and does a lot of good. It is great to be involved with it.

The Jesus Centre "It's for You" Open Day celebrates two years of being open. We are open from 10.00am to 4.00pm, with lots of things going on.

In the Cafe

Special offers all day in the Circle Cafe.

Art display by local artist Gerald Porter. In the afternoon Gerald will be here to talk about his artwork and doing some painting.

Free internet access.

In the Foyer

Live Music: 11.30am and 1.30pm

Drumming Team: 12.30pm and 2.30pm

Taster Sessions in the Skills Suite

Come and watch what is happening, talk to group leaders or have a try.

Jesus Centre Agency Day

Last week we (at the Jesus Centre) ran an Agency Day for organisations working in the Community & Voluntary sector in Northampton.

The Jesus Centre is the premises through which the Jesus Fellowship Church[1] seeks to help the community of Northampton, especially the disadvantaged and marginalised.

The full centre has now been open for over a year, but we ran a drop-in from smaller premises for a couple of years before we managed to complete the renovation of the cannon cinema [2]. The experience we gained through that, especially the training of our volunteers, was invaluable.

We now run over forty different groups and services regularly. These include :

Our Step-Up Scheme drop in

The Circle Community Cafe

Friday Evening Theme Nights, including :

Jammin' Sesh

Gold Nuggets Poetry Evening

Music from the Heart on Classical Music

Multicultural Evenings

Several creative groups

Drama Workshop

Creative Sewing

Expressive Art

Guitar Lessons

Several support groups

Knowing Me, Knowing You

Open Doors (Support for ex-prisoners)

Parenting group

New to UK

Appointment services

Money worries

Listening Ear

Spiritual Life groups

Healing Rays (prayer)

Faithbuilders (lunchtime devotionals)

New Friends (a bit like the Alpha Course)

New Seekers (bible study for new Christians)

Skills Classes

ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages)

Maths for All

Literacy

IT with English

We also have a couple of new groups, Scrabble for the over fifties and a group working with the sex workers of Northampton.

We also run an art exhibition in our gallery area as part of the community cafe [3]. This changes monthly and features the work of local artists from the Northampton area.

So why am I reeling off this long list of activities ? Well, there is no other organisation in Northampton (as far as I know) that provides such a range of services for such a diverse range of different people.

This was the message we hoped to convey to the representatives who attended our agency day, as well as learn how to better work with them.

We also hoped to allay their fears about the religious context of the services we deliver. The activity of the Jesus Centre is motivated by our faith and an expression of our faith. However, we don't force our religion on anyone and none of the services of the Jesus Centre are dependent on the faith (or otherwise) of those attending. This is the kind of faith based social action promoted by Faithworks and endorsed by the UK central govenment and also (at least in theory) local government.

So was our agency day a success ? Well, as usual we didn't know how many people to expect. It could have been anything from fifteen to fifty. In the end thirty people came, and we made some good new contacts. I was very pleased with the event, and didn't even feel too much of a gump when doing my part of the presentation [4].

My theme was the range of activities we provide, how that is relevant to other agencies, and how we would like to work with those organisations. John Campbell talked about the aims and ethos of the Jesus Centre (as well as some background to the project). Additionally, we had brief presentations on our BME work, our skills classes, and the work of the Step-Up scheme with the homeless of Northampton.

It's for You

It's on Saturday December the Third, 10.00AM until 4.00PM, and you're all welcome.

The theme is It's for You, because we're focussing on letting the local community know about the wide range of activities we run - and that they're open to everyone. We still think there is a perception that the Jesus Centre is only for the Jesus Army. That aint so.

If you're in Northampton town centre (UK, not Massachusetts) that Saturday, come and have a look.

We'll have our dance team and live music, various taster sessions by our groups, hopefully a special offer running in the Circle Cafe - and lots of friendly people to talk to.

Sinister Goings On

It was ostensibly very pleasant. I've been organising an open day for our Northampton Jesus Centre, and in the course of this sent out letters to various organisations that we have contact with.

I got a very nice email from a lady who is part of a voluntary organisation called the Sunflower centre, wishing me all the best for the day. She obviously works for the Northampton Police - because that's where the email comes from.

At the bottom is the following disclaimer :

Northamptonshire Police monitors Internet and email activity.

Now I'm sure they mean that monitor emails sent to and from their server - but why do I need to know about them monitoring internet use ? [1]... unless they're trying to scare me of course.

(Responding to a quotaton of Sturgeon's law: "Ninety percent of everything is crap.") "fwiw, this is of course why google displays 10 results on the first page. according to the law, one of them is always exactly what you want."

Being Open

Oops, I nearly forgot to mention. You all have to come to our Jesus Centre Open Day. It's on Saturday May 21st 10am till 4pm[1].

I'm still finalising the program, but we hope it will include a Liberian Drumming Team, the Jesus Army Dancers[2], and Funkmeister Jez and the Jammers. We will also have a display of African Crafts and a photo exhibition from local groups - as well as representatives from local community groups present.

The focus from our point of view though, is letting local people know about the range of activities that go on at the Jesus Centre. We have about forty different activities and groups that happen on a regular basis. We'll have taster sessions for several of the groups - including ESOL, English with IT, Creative Workshop[3], Expressive Art, Knowing Me - Knowing You[4], New Searchers[5], Creative Sewing, Parenting, Evolution Guitar[6], and last but not least Healing Rays[7]. Phew, I don't think I forgot any of them.

Archives

The Old Blog Archives

There was so much ancient wisdom distilled into my old blog, that I couldn't let it just creep ignominiously into the pages of cyber-history. More to the point I'm still getting some hits from google with the old entries. Here are the archives of my previous Blogger based blog.